LAS VEGAS (AP) The Arizona Coyotes don’t have much to play for Adidas Wade Megan Jersey , given they have the worst record in the Western Conference and have long been eliminated from the playoff race.Except maybe a bit of pride.It showed Wednesday night as Kevin Connauton scored twice to lead the Coyotes over the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights 3-2.It marked Arizona’s first victory over the expansion Golden Knights in the teams’ fifth and final game this season.”It was a good complete game for us,” Connauton said. ”It’s big, I mean right now we’re focused on building for next year. We still have a group here that has a lot of pride and that is gonna play hard right to the end.”Richard Panik also scored for the Coyotes, and Antti Raanta improved to 18-16-6 by making 27 saves.”We knew that we had lost all the games against this team and we wanted to show that we’re not that bad a team,” Raanta said. ”Everybody knows that we’re not gonna go to the playoffs, but we want to show that we can beat anybody in this league. A little bit of a better start (this season) we could actually be in the hunt for a playoff spot.”The Coyotes began the season 0-10-1 and were 9-27-5 heading into 2018, but now they’re on a 15-7-2 roll, including an impressive 4-1 victory at Eastern Conference-leading Tampa Bay on Monday night.”It was a huge thing to come from Tampa and start working again, it was a big thing for the team for sure,” Raanta said. ”It’s showing to the fans and showing to the league that we can beat anybody in this league when we are playing like we played today and in Tampa. It’s a confidence boost for sure.”Erik Haula and Alex Tuch each scored power-play goals for the playoff-bound Golden Knights. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 29 shots.Vegas is in a 7-6-3 rut and holds a five-point lead over surging San Jose for first place in the Pacific Division. The Sharks were idle Wednesday and visit Vegas on Saturday night. The Golden Knights are 27-10-2 at home this season.The Golden Knights continued to struggle at the start of games, getting outshot by Arizona in the first period 15-5.Vegas has been outshot 41-22 in the first period over its past three games.”It’s bothering me a lot,” Vegas coach Gerard Gallant said of his team’s sluggish starts. ”First game of our road trip in San Jose we had an unbelievable first period and the last three since then it’s been chasing the game every game. That’s three in a row and we gotta fix it. We gotta be better Adidas Evgeny Svechnikov Jersey , we gotta be more prepared for those starts and get our game ready.”The Coyotes opened the scoring when Connauton found the loose puck after a deflection in front of the crease and backhanded it in a wide-open net.Vegas tied it after James Neal took advantage of a turnover and fed Haula for a one-timer.With a little more than three minutes left in the first period, Arizona rookie Clayton Keller stole the puck, maneuvered around the defense and served an attacking Panik, whose backhand beat Fleury.Keller, who leads the team in scoring, continued a red-hot March and has now recorded a point in 10 straight games. Keller’s 18 points this month is the most by a rookie, while his 39 assists and 62 points this season are also team records by a rookie.Tuch deflected Jonathan Marchessault’s slap shot late in the second period to knot the game at 2, but moments later Connauton scored his second goal when his shot from the point made its way through the five-hole.”It was big because obviously this is a great hockey team we’re playing. This is a tough building to play in, a loud building,” Arizona coach Rick Tocchet said. ”We held our own, you gotta give our team credit. It’s a tough road trip. I like the way some of these guys are buying in. You do the right things, good things happen.”Arizona Adidas Jonathan Bernier Jersey , which is 6-3-1 in its last 10 road games, played its fifth game of a six-game road trip that started in Buffalo, and continued through Carolina, Florida, Tampa and Vegas. The Coyotes finish their road trip tomorrow in Los Angeles.NOTES: Arizona is on a winning run of 16-1-1 when holding opponents to two goals or fewer. … Fleury remains one win away from moving into sole possession of 11th on the NHL’s career wins list. … Neal is two games shy from his 700th career game. … Marchessault is two games away from his 200th career contest.UP NEXTArizona: Visits Los Angeles on Thursday night.Vegas: Hosts St. Louis on Friday night.— The Anaheim Ducks and the Buffalo Sabres had both been sailing along with stretches of good results before being jolted by a couple of recent setbacks.The Ducks had been rolling with 11 wins in 13 games before losing two away games in a row to the New York Rangers Tuesday and the Boston Bruins Thursday, both by 3-1 scores.The Sabres, who gained momentums with a 10-game winning streak Nov. 8-27, were on 3-0-1 run before losing 5-2 to the Florida Panthers Tuesday night at home and then dropping a 2-1 decision on the road to the Washington Capitals Friday night.Article continues below ...The Ducks and the Sabres will be trying to shake off these recent glitches when they meet Saturday at the KeyBank Center. Buffalo won the first meeting between the teams, 4-2 at Anaheim Oct. 21.The Ducks were listless Thursday in Boston. “It just seemed we didn’t have the intensity we’ve shown over the stretch of games we’ve won,” Ducks left winger Andrew Cogliano said.“There’s no excuse, really. We’re a couple of games away from the Christmas break and you have to find it. These are tough times and you’ve got to push through the whatever-you-want-to call-it and get the wins and then give yourself a break after that. There’s no excuse. I think we’ve let a couple of games go and it’s unfortunate because we’ve got something really good going.”In New York, the Ducks also were lifeless. They led 1-0 before allowing three goals – including one when they were on the power play – in the third period in which they were outshot 14-1.“We didn’t have much jump Adidas Paul Thompson Jersey ,” Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. “That’s what happens. You play a lot of hockey. You travel a lot. You come from the West Coast. You travel 51/2 hours. People don’t know how tough travel can be. You practice every day. Those are the things that add up over time. Everybody’s in the holiday season. There are Christmas gifts to purchase. There are other things that are on people’s minds. We just didn’t have the gasoline that was necessary in the tank.”The Sabres were in Washington only last Saturday and lost that time, 4-3, in a shootout before defeating the Bruins 4-2 on Sunday.The difference Friday was Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby as the Sabres had a 37-24 advantage in shots on goal. Tom Wilson notched what turned out to be the winning goal at 13:00 of the third period, taking advantage of a mistake by Sabres goaltender Carter Hutton.Hutton, a Sabres mainstay all season, lost the puck behind the goal to Evgeny Kuznetsov and the Capitals center passed it in front to Wilson, who put it into the gaping goal.“The guy (Kuznetsov) got a hack in on me, I kind of fumbled it and they capitalized,” Hutton said.“He just lost the handle and they pounced on it,” Sabres coach Phil Housley said. “For all the good things he’s done, they outweigh that play.”The Sabres had injured defensemen Lawrence Pilut (lower body) and Jake McCabe (upper body) back in the lineup Friday. Right winger Jason Pominville was out with an undisclosed injury.The Sabres, meanwhile Adidas Troy Brouwer Jersey , have parted with Patrik Berglund, who had left the team. The center has cleared unconditional waivers. He had had two goals and two assists in 23 games with the Sabres, who acquired him in an offseason trade from the St. Louis Blues.The situation does not seem to have been a distraction. “I think that we’ve tried to limit our focus to playing, and the guys that are here,” Sabres captain Jack Eichel said. “You let the right people take care of that situation. You kind of just focus on what you can control and the people that are here.”“(Berglund) was an ultimate pro, does everything right, every day works hard so obviously it’s been a bit shocking,” said Hutton, who was Berglund’s teammate for two years with St. Louis. “There’s a lot of stuff where we don’t even know about, I’m sure, so you hope for the best in all cases.”